More
by Yugoslavia
Summary: "Hi! My name is Commander Solar, and we are going to be best friends!"


_"Hi! My name is Commander Solar, and we are going to be best friends!"_

* * *

Mars could hear Saturn walking down the corridor. He had a distinctive walk, one that made him seem like he always on edge with quick, stiff steps. From where she stood in the center of the corridor's path in silence, poised and alert, she listened to his echoing footsteps. As soon as she could see him heading down the hallway, his long shadow appearing down the dimly lit steel panel floors, wrapping around the corner, Mars found herself walking quickly towards him, purpose in her steps.

Saturn rounded the corner, getting a faceful of Mars as she approached from around the corner and continued to walk even though they had barely an inch between themselves. He immediately backpedaled, walking quickly and trying desperately not to stumble. He let out a gasp, stammering to protest and holding his hands out defensively, when Mars moved quickly around him, coercing him to walk back towards the wall of the corridor, and Saturn realized this wasn't a mistake. When the door met his shoulders, Mars got even closer, almost pinning him, reaching to the controls in the archway of the door, mashing her finger into the touchpad beyond his vision. The doors hissed and opened behind him, and he stumbled back suddenly into the dark of the supply closet.

"H-Hey, Mars? What's going on?"

The door sealed behind them, leaving them in darkness. Overhead, the lights kicked on, flickering to life and bathing all of the shelves in the supply closet in a very artificial light. All around Saturn, wireframe shelves densely lined with cleaning supplies and replacement hardware components surrounded him on all directions. Directly ahead of Saturn, Mars was not happy, bearing a deadly serious look.

"We need to talk," Mars hissed quietly.

* * *

 _Mars stopped chewing. Frozen, holding her sandwich, Mars had her eyes locked dead ahead, staring at a steel-braced wall of concrete for no particular reason. Slowly, like she was turning to look at the very person who stabbed a knife into her chest, Mars looked down at the person beside her, the person who had just spoken._

 _A young, blonde-haired woman was sitting on the bench beside Mars, holding her tray of food precariously. Her shoulders were high and shy, making her look like she was shrinking beside Mars, as well as a nervous smile spread across her lips. Her eyes lit up like twin bolts of lightning, a deep green tint covering her irises._

 _"Do you mind if I sit next to you?" asked Commander Solar, blowing up a tuft of hair that had fallen over her forehead._

 _Mars swallowed the pulpy mess in her mouth, realizing she still hadn't swallowed. After taking a second to wipe her lips on the back of her hand, she nodded, gesturing to the side of the table opposite her._

 _"How about you sit on the other side of me?" offered Mars, showing no emotion as she turned her attention back to her sandwich and took another bite._

* * *

"Have you checked out this 'Commander Solar' girl?" Mars asked, getting that much closer to Saturn, like she was interrogating him.

"Yeah, I—"

"Is she real?" she asked, this time with greater intensity, her eyes flaring brightly.

Saturn's face turned, going from confusion and fear to looking like Mars had kicked him in the shin. "Mars, of course she's real. You've met her! She told me all about meeting you. Why on earth would you ask such a thing?" Saturn asked genuinely.

"Believe me, I know you know," Mars shot back.

Saturn's look of puzzlement was met with Mars' deeply seated rage, the full intensity of her gaze.

* * *

 _Mars took a long look at Solar's face._

 _Beneath the twisted curls of brunette hair, Solar was extremely young, almost to a point of concern. Her features seemed care-free and innocent, fresh faced and full of life. She wore little to no makeup, aside from cosmic-colored eyeshadow seated behind her eyes. A small patch of acne was present on her chin, pockmarked and patchy with red swollen blemishes. Solar's upper lip was tucked in her mouth at almost all times, her lower lips present and visible. She wore no lipstick. On her ears, she had two pink diamond studs in where she had pierced them._

 _On her hair, Solar's hair was a mish-mash of different attempted hairstyles. A tucked bun with several coils of pink scrunchies stood out in the center of her head's right hemisphere. Another bun with blue scrunchies had been done nearly center to the dividing median of where her hair was parted. Littered throughout her hair were several different shades of neon hair clips, holding her hair back from her forehead, while the tufts of hair on the side of her head popped out like fish fins. A curled, waffle-like section of her hair came down over her forehead, straight like a board—a perm._

 _"Commander Mars, what's wrong?" asked Solar, smiling nervously._

 _Mars squinted, looking down into Solar's mouth. Her teeth were lined with the thick colored bands of purple braces._

* * *

"Is that what this is all about? I never told you I had a sister?" Saturn was still confused, showing it very clearly. He rubbed his wrists as his confidence returned ever so slightly but he remained cautious.

"It's not that. It's just, she's _your_ sister?" Mars' arms were crossed, bearing every sign of skepticism she could muster as she narrowed her eyes at him.

It was Saturn's turn to interrogate. "What's wrong with my sister?" he asked carefully.

Mars laughed. "Hoo—What's _wrong_ with her?"

* * *

 _"It's so nice to finally meet you, Mars! I'm just so excited!" Solar said with great energy._

 _"Commander," Mars corrected. She didn't think about it, but when she did, she cleared her throat gently. "Sorry, in public, we're supposed to call us by our ranks."_

 _"Oh, right! Sorry!"_

 _As Mars continued to eat, she found herself staring briefly at Solar's food. It made her pause. Though she tried and didn't want to stare, Mars couldn't help herself. She narrowed her eyes at the tray full of food._

 _In the topmost pocket of the tray, a thick pile of brown, glossy pudding sat, filling the small enclosure as it lazily poured into other pockets. In the pocket beside it, a tall stack of oatmeal raisin cookies wobbled one on top of the other. In the largest section of the tray were more cookies._

 _One at a time, Solar would take the cookie and place it in her hand with the flat surface upright, then take her spork and scoop up a large portion of chocolate pudding, throwing it onto the cookie. With the little plastic knife provided to her, Solar would take the knife and spread the pudding over the surface of the cookie. Another cookie went on top of the cookie slathered in pudding, and Solar would squeeze the cookie until the pudding came out around the edges. She'd eat it in three quick bites. Then she'd take more cookies._

 _"So, Solar," began Mars, "how did you—"_

 _"Commander," corrected Solar, just before she took another bite. "Ythoo foohghhot thbboo cahwll meee commhhannnddhhurr!" Solar said as she chewed._

* * *

"Yeah, she totally mouthed-off at me! First day too!"

"Mars, relax, you're being over-critcal," said Saturn, employing the full strength of the soothing intellectual voice he always used. "Everyone has weird ticks. Those quirks are called _personality_. You're just not quite used to Solar. Just let it sink in. She's a really fun person to be around!"

Mars huffed silently. She crossed her arms defensively and she stared down at the filthy floor of the supply closet, shuffling her boots among the densely collected wads of lint and dust. She stared wide-eyed, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. After a moment, she sighed loudly, turning her back to Saturn and staring at the silvery door ahead of her in complete frustration. Doubt appeared in her eyes as she was realizing she had chosen the wrong person to talk to.

Saturn felt something turn deep within his chest, and he realized what his opportunity was. The same doubt that he had seen out of the corner of Mars' eye he now was showing as well. Stepping forward, he put his hands on either one of Mars' shoulders, rubbing softly.

"You can tell me what's going on," said Saturn.

Mars scowled. "This is a bad time to flirt, you know," she said.

* * *

 _Mars froze, an icy chill spreading up her back today for the second time. She ran her hand along her back, feeling for her spine and her back muscles, running a soothing hand over them. It was time to see the chiropractor, she silently vowed. As she massaged the junction point between her ribs and her spine, feeling relief come to the aching joints, she paused, realizing it wasn't actually her back that was disturbed. She had flinched, instinctually._

 _"Hey Mars, wait up!"_

 _Slowly, Mars turned her head around, hearing hurried footsteps scamper down the hall, immediately recognizing the shrill voice of the person quickly approaching._

 _"Oh no," Mars said under her breath, pure horror filling her words._

 _Solar was coming. She had just passed down the curved corridor, moving into sight of Mars, running towards her._

 _Though Mars very much wanted to run, she stayed, standing still and looking to be waiting for the young commander to arrive. She couldn't bear to make eye contact, instead pulling the fabric cover off her wrist computer, the COMM, and powering it on, checking her messages. Maybe, she thought, that she could simply pretend to be busy. She could easily punch in a new date on her calendar appointment, a forgery, even making it authentic enough to have an alarm to ring at the precise moment that she arrived. Mars even ran through her lines in her head as to how she would've forgotten that there were grunts that needed disciplining. Alas, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Maybe this was nothing. It was better than a surprise visit from Jupiter. She waited patiently, clearing her thoughts of frustration._

 _"Hey Solar," said Mars, putting on a cordial smile. She put out her hand, offering it as a high-five._

 _"Hey Mars! I'm glad I caught you!" Solar said, her voice hot with exertion as she ran past Mars, her hand catching Mars' and the clap ringing out in the hall. She continued running a few feet past Mars before she slowed to a stop, walking back over towards Mars. "I was afraid you had already gone!"_

 _Mars narrowed her eyes, continuing to smile. "Gone where?" she asked._

 _"I wanted to watch you battle before you went to go workout!" exclaimed Solar, her eyes lighting with the fire of a thousand exploding warheads. "I didn't want to bother you after you workout, I know you'll be tired when you're done, so I wanted to see you battle now!"_

 _Mars went to reply, but she stopped herself short. Too many questions burned on the tip of her tongue._

 _"How did you find that out?" asked Mars._

 _"Oh! I found PX-24 in the loading bay and asked him! He was very easy to work with," answered Solar._

 _Mars' eye twitched involuntarily. She cleared her throat, shaking her head and clearing all thoughts of revenge towards the grunt. Turning her full attention to Solar, Mars' smile returned._

 _"So you want to see a Pokemon battle? You're welcome to watch," said Mars._

 _"I would absolutely love to!" Solar nearly jumped for joy at this._

* * *

Saturn sighed, hanging his head. "You think she's a liar?" he asked, dreadful of Mars' answer.

"To be honest, yeah! I think she's a liar!" said Mars.

"What did she say?"

* * *

 _A thought crossed Mars' mind in the silence preceding. Solar hadn't returned to asking questions, something that Mars was discovering to be her primary mode of operation, and was instead waiting for Mars to lead the conversation somewhere. Though Mars was enjoying the silence, she still thought to check on something behind her, her idea wheeling in her head._

 _"Do you think you'll battle today too?" asked Mars. Her warm and cordial smile slowly warped into a smirk. "There's a chance I could lose this. Would you jump into save me?"_

 _Solar's eyes lit up at the thought. Momentarily, she looked as though Mars had said something heretical. "I mean, I would jump in and save you, but I can't imagine you needing saving! If someone really was good and beat you, then I would transform in a heartbeat, and save you immediately!"_

 _Mars chuckled with a bit of cockiness to it. Then, she frowned, pausing mentally. She stopped in her tracks._

 _"Did you say 'transform'?" asked Mars._

 _With a look of intense concern, Solar looked up at Mars. She almost looked sad. "Why, yes! I can transform into an Arceus on command! Is something wrong?"_

* * *

"Okay, I know that seems a bit farfetched, _but_ —"

"Wait!" Mars said, her own incredulity coming through her voice. "That's not all she said!"

* * *

 _Mars turned around to face Solar, giving her the most intense glare she could muster, despite the fact that her eyes always seemed to look lost in thought. Mars had a good extra foot of height over Solar and she used it to her advantage, stooping down towards her._

 _"You can transform into Arceus?" asked Mars, deadpan, narrowing her eyes to slits for as close as she was to Solar._

 _"Well, not like, 'god of all things' Arceus," Solar, nervous and picking up on Mars' extreme skepticism, said. "Like, Arceus as a... Pokemon?" More than anything, Solar was confused. Why would Mars doubt her? She had been so nice before._

 _"You. Can transform. Into Arceus?" Mars was even more deadpan, not having any of it. She got even closer, their noses touching. In the still closeness, Mars' eyes shot open, wide and glaring daggers._

 _"Yes!"_

 _"Then do it," Mars hissed._

 _Solar was staring down at the floor. She blinked, pausing and thinking, then looking up. She swallowed carefully, feeling that, despite her own calmness, Mars could go off at any second._

 _"I can't," Solar said plainly._

 _"Why not?"_

 _"Because I'd be too big for this hallway! I'd tear right through the walls!" said Solar, looking desperate to Mars. For effect, her hands shot out to the side as she made the transforming sound effects through her mouth._

 _Mars still wasn't having any of it. "I don't care. Do it!"_

 _"But dad will get angry!" protested Solar, on the verge of anger herself._

 _"What does your dad have to do with any of this?" Mars gave an exasperated shout._

 _"Because he runs the whole thing!"_

* * *

"I think I know where this is going," groaned Saturn.

* * *

 _Mars paused carefully. She took a deep breath, and took the bait._

 _"Who is your dad?" asked Mars._

 _"Cyrus! Cyrus is my dad!" said Solar, almost happily._

* * *

"Yes, that is also true," said Saturn.


End file.
